3 Things We Learned at SAPPHIRE NOW 2016

Although SAP SAPPHIRE NOW 2016 showcased new SAP technology, the most important developments were collaborative. Bold new partnerships and partner initiatives improved everything across the SAP HANA cloud, from virtualization, to cross platform compatibility, to 3rd party application offerings. Here are some of the highlights:

1. SAPPHIRE NOW Apple Announcement Combines the Power of SAP HANA with the Mobility of iOS Devices

The new SAP-Apple partnership will speed the development and deployment of iOS apps using SAP S/4HANA and the SAP HANA Cloud Platform in the backend. SAP will providing a training academy and an SDK for iOS, along with an iOS version of Fiori.This will empower both Apple and HANA developers to leverage the power of SAP’s analytics with the user-friendliness and security of iOS devices. For companies that can use mobile technology effectively, this will make SAP HANA even more valuable, as developers come up with new ways to deliver real time insights to workers’ mobile devices.

SAP has been working with Microsoft for some time, but their joint SAPPHIRE NOW announcement greatly increases interoperability. Companies will be able to seamlessly integrate Microsoft Office 365 with SAP apps like Fieldglass and Arriba. This will streamline workflow allowing companies to more easily combine offerings from both vendors.

3. VMware Quadruples Memory for SAP HANA Virtualization

Virtualization of SAP with VMware yields substantial benefits, from more efficient hardware utilization, to the inherent benefits such as live migration between hosts, and high availability. VMware has been a leader in SAP HANA virtualization, but virtual machines were previously limited to 1 terabyte of RAM. While many deployments didn’t require memory resources beyond that, it was not ideal in terms of long-term scale-up potential, and could not accommodate large data stores.At SAP SAPPHIRE NOW, VMware announcedvSphere 6.0 will support up to 4TB of memory in production, and doubled the number of vCPUs to 128. As multiple VMs per server and multi-node deployments are rolled out under a controlled availability initiative, companies will be able to accommodate data growth, and a wide range of SAP hosting and deployment scenarios.

SAP SAPPHIRE NOW 2016 provides even more reasons to join Symmetry’s HANA cloud. SAP S/4HANA has revolutionized data storage and processing, but many businesses have yet to fully take advantage of its power. SAPPHIRE NOW 2016 has ushered in a new period of innovation in the SAP HANA cloud. Companies will have more choices for deployment and integration, and new tools to harness HANA’s powerful analytics. We’re excited to help our partners use these new opportunities to stay on the cutting edge.

Contact us to learn how Symmetry can maximize the benefits of your SAP HANA landscape.

A Leader and SAP technical veteran, Matt Lonstine oversees the SAP Technologists that make up Symmetry’s Delivery team, while providing strategic guidance to customers. Matt has managed and executed some of Symmetry’s most complex projects with a current focus on HANA, virtualization, disaster recovery, system hardening, and migrations to Symmetry’s SAP Cloud environment.